After $25,000 In Fines, Dania Wants Man Evicted

March 21, 1996|By JODY BENJAMIN Staff Writer

DANIA - — Hubert Smith has always had an eclectic business sense.

Under the name Big Nassau Daddy, the Bahamas-born Smith has operated a septic tank cleaning business that doubled as a "country store" where customers once bought everything from pickled pig's feet and toilet paper to beer and jazz records.

But the creative business sense that allowed Smith to patch together a profitable enterprise may not be enough to save that business.

The city wants to evict Smith from his South Dixie Highway locale after trying for 11 years to collect fines for code violations.

Officials say Smith, 61, is the longest-running code enforcement scofflaw on the city books. An initial code enforcement board judgment was entered against him in October 1985, calling the debris-strewn property a sanitary nuisance.

Smith now owes the city $25,000 in fines and legal fees that have accumulated on four lots he owns at 1506 South Dixie Highway.

"It's a blight on the neighborhood right at the southern entrance to our city," City Manager Mike Smith said.

"He's had all kinds of things out there - an abandoned bus, tires, [car) parts and all kinds of equipment. The more you look, the more you find that shouldn't be there."

The city has been trying to foreclose on the property since 1989, but two other creditors - the South Broward Hospital District and Smith's father-in-law, Everald Walker - have fought that effort, saying they should be paid first.

The hospital district, now called the Memorial Healthcare District, says Smith owes it $64,526 for medical bills.

Walker has a lien on the property because in 1990 he helped Smith pay off a $27,000 mortgage held by a private lender who had begun foreclosure proceedings.

In February, lawyers representing the three creditors struck a deal to sell the property and split the proceeds three ways.

Smith says the city misled Walker, who is blind and in poor health. He said his father-in-law signed the deal believing it would help, not hurt, Smith. Walker could not be reached for comment.

"He didn't understand what he was doing. This business is an investment for the family," Hubert Smith said.

Before the property can be sold, the business must be evicted.

On March 12, Smith's son, Clarence Mitchell, 38, persuaded the City Commission to delay eviction proceedings two weeks so the property could be brought into compliance with the code. He said he wants to keep the property and has the money to pay the fines, but needs time to work with the other creditors.

If that is unsuccessful, Mitchell said, the family's company may try to buy the property back if it is put up for sale.

"Whatever the city wants, I'm willing to comply with," Mitchell said.

In a bid to satisfy city inspectors, Mitchell rented space in another location and moved vehicles and equipment there. He cleared a cluttered lot and sectioned off a storage area with a freshly painted plywood wall.

"They keep saying that the yard is not clean. I don't know what more they want," Mitchell said.

But city officials said Mitchell's actions only aggravated the problem.

Mitchell never obtained a building permit for the wall, said Will Allen, the city's code enforcement director.

And, during a recent inspection inside the building, Allen and code enforcement officer William Johnson said they found a list of other violations including exposed wires, a propane gas tank improperly used to operate a gas stove, and extensive building renovations done without permits.

"They just do what they want to do," Johnson said. "Instead of cleaning up the property, they just add more violations. Does that seem like a person that is trying to do right?''

Over the years at Big Nassau Daddy's, the septic tank business grew while the grocery store and record shop faded away.

Smith said he still sells beer, wine coolers and soda from his shop, but only to six workers at the septic tank business and their friends.

"When we knock off from work we may sit down together and play a game of pool like they do on the island," Smith said. "But that's it. We don't allow outsiders to come in here."

Time appears to be running out for Smith and his business.

Commissioners gave him and Mitchell until March 26 to bring the property into compliance and make arrangements to pay off the fines.

But even if the work is done and the fines paid, city officials say they are reluctant to enter into an agreement with Smith because of his past performance.

"It's taken us 10 years to get to this point and he hasn't come into compliance yet," said City Manager Mike Smith. "The clock is still ticking."